The GUN headquarters were nothing special. Indeed, they just about epitomized the idea of hiding in plain sight. They occupied the top five floors of a perfectly ordinary skyscraper in Empire City, and shared the rest of the building with three accounting companies, two legal firms, an insurance company, and an engineering company. None of the employees in those lower floors would believe their ears if they could hear the conversation taking place on the top floor at that very moment.

On the other hand, none of them would have believed that it was possible to blow up the Moon, and the evidence for that feat was now staring at them from above the sky. It was something that had many of the engineers arguing with each other late at night nowadays, and several employees at the insurance company had found themselves waking up in a cold sweat, wondering if one of the fragments from the Moon would ever crash down on something that they insured.

"Rouge," the Commander shook his head. "The truth is, it's your story against the world right now. You claim that it was necessary to blow up Prison Island to figure out what Eggman and Shadow were up to. You claim that you weren't able to secure Shadow because he somehow lost his powers, conveniently after destroying one of Gerald's old prototypes. A prototype which you claim was capable of hijacking the ARK and destroying the world on its own."

"Sir, I can explain," Rouge stammered.

"And then," the Commander continued, entirely ignoring the bat. "And then you failed to secure both Dr. Robotnik and Sonic the Hedgehog. Now I don't need to remind you, we don't take sides at GUN. Both of these individuals have caused problems for us before. And you managed to let both of them out of your grasp, despite being together with them in a completely enclosed space station."

Rouge silently gasped for air from across the table. She knew the Commander. He only ever spoke this calmly when he was so angry, it completely boiled off and circled around into cold calculations. There was no talking him down now. But she had to say something, if only for her own sake.

"Commander, there's no way I could've kept up with Sonic and also–"

"That's not the point!" The Commander snarled. "Look, if you had let Eggman blow up Prison Island, then captured him and Shadow after that, I'd understand. After all, prison guards are expendable. We can always hire more. But you didn't cost us just a few prison guards."

"In my defense, I called you and requested reinforcements–" Rouge tried again.

"No!" The Commander snapped, standing up from his chair. "You're missing the point. I don't understand what's gotten into you. Shadow cost 5 billion dollars to develop, including all the initial setup, tests, and prototypes. Prototypes which are now destroyed, I might add. He cost 10 million dollars to preserve for 50 years. I'm not even accounting for inflation. And you let all that money burn up in the atmosphere! Not to mention all the public relations damage control we've had to do regarding the Moon, which has probably cost us at least a million dollars so far. And there's no telling what lunacy that Dr. Robotnik is going to try next."

"So that's all," Rouge sighed. The man she looked up to for so long, the man she had trusted with her own life several times before, was just another greedy miser.

"THAT'S ALL!?" The Commander howled. "Oh, Rouge. I had high expectations for you. I just hope you understand that at this point, you will be known as GUN's single greatest failure for decades to come. I had toyed with the idea of having you imprisoned for this sort of breathtaking incompetence, but the International Court shot me down. Something about extenuating circumstances. It's not my problem anymore, since you no longer work for us. And that's all. Dismissed."

Rouge blinked. She started to smile, but then thought better of it. She covered her eyes and pretended to cry. The Commander just rolled his eyes.

She stood up without a word, and left the office. Her fake crying didn't let up, though. She wailed and let the fake tears fall from her eyes as she mock-stumbled through the halls and grabbed her backpack from her own desk. A few office workers–people she had talked with the day before–whispered and pointed in her direction, but didn't bother her otherwise.

They surely would have bothered her if they had realized that, while gathering her things, she had also slipped into the back storage room, and taken a stack of classified paperwork, another field agent's laptop, and a box of sapphires that had recently been confiscated from a Spagonian drug dealer.

Finally, she exited GUN's portion of the building, and took the elevator down to the ground floor.

Once Rouge reached the stairs at the bottom of the building, she shuddered, and realized that her tears weren't fake anymore.

She sat down on the steps, and started crying for real.

"Pardon me, miss?" There was a voice beside her, and a tap on the shoulder.

Rouge looked up. Her eyes stung. Sitting next to her was an elderly human woman in a business suit. She realized the Sun was starting to set.

"I'm sorry, I just saw you crying here, and I wanted to make sure you're okay. What's wrong?"

Rouge sighed and folded her arms. "My friend died a few days ago, and I was just fired this afternoon."

"I'm sorry," the woman whistled. "My husband died last year. Liver cancer. I'm just glad I was with him when it happened. I haven't felt the same since."

Yeah, but at least your husband probably died in a hospital bed, surrounded by family, rather than burning up in the fucking atmosphere after saving the entire world from an insane grieving madman and his giant pet lizard, Rouge thought.

"That's terrible," Rouge said instead.

"He had a full life. Besides, death happens to everyone," the woman shrugged. "What was your friend like?"

"He was very efficient," Rouge mused. "Very focused on his work. But he'd always stop to help people if they needed it."

"That's good," the woman nodded. "And you were always there for him, I'm sure."

"I tried to be," Rouge wiped her eyes with a handkerchief.

"Do you mind if I ask what happened to him?" the woman asked.

"He–he drowned," Rouge lied. "He was, uh, a part-time lifeguard. He drowned saving a surfer that had been caught in a rip current. They never even found his body."

"Oh dear," the woman exclaimed. "That's sad."

"It is," Rouge sighed. "I don't know what I'm going to do now."

"What was your job before?" The woman asked.

"Um, uh, I was an accountant," Rouge improvised. "What do you do?"

"I'm an electrical engineer," the woman replied. "It's not as exciting as some people seem to think. But I suppose it's kind of like accounting, right? We both crunch numbers, it's simply that your numbers are money and my numbers are watts, volts, and amps, right?"

"Something like that," Rouge chuckled.

"Well, I don't know much about accounting, but I'll ask if my company needs an accountant," the woman suggested, standing up and brushing her suit off. "Oh, my name's Helen, by the way."

"I'm Rouge," the bat replied, standing up as well. "Nice to meet you."

"Same here," Helen nodded. "Well, would you fancy getting a snack with me? You could use something to cheer you up."

"Oh, well, okay," Rouge agreed. She followed Helen to a nearby bakery she had been meaning to visit, but hadn't had the time before.

Rouge put her backpack on a table, and went over to look at the selection of pastries. She decided on a chocolate-filled croissant and a cup of green tea, while Helen opted for a muffin and a chamomile tea.

"Ah, your backpack is very heavy!" Helen noted when she tried to pick it up from the table. "You even have two laptops! You must've been pretty important."

"Oh, sorry!" Rouge took the backpack from him, and placed it on the floor. "I admit, I was considered a rising star for a brief time at my job."

"Why exactly did you get fired?" Helen asked.

Rouge stirred her tea, and stared at the resulting whirlpool for a few seconds. "I…did something that I thought would help my company out in the long term. But it kinda cut down on short-term profits. Turns out my manager didn't like that very much."

"I see," Helen smiled knowingly. "I guess it's the same anywhere. A lot of my company's clients don't want to pay for better equipment, even though they would save on maintenance."

"Yeah, that sounds familiar," Rouge nodded. "By the way, did you grow up here?"

"Yep!" Helen answered. "My family's been in Empire City for three generations now."

"That's good," Rouge smiled thinly.

"Where are you from?" Helen asked, tilting her head.

"I grew up in an orphanage on Tartess Island." Rouge answered.

"Oh, that's quite a long way from here," Helen sighed. "I've heard it's a beautiful place, though. Do you ever miss it?"

"Not until today," Rouge said, sipping her tea.

"Well, do you have anything tying you here?" Helen asked, biting into her muffin. "It seems to me like you're a pretty independent young lady."

"I am," Rouge laughed. "There's nothing stopping me from getting on a plane to Tartess Island today."

"That might be a good idea," Helen mused. "It might be time for a fresh start. And you're young; you have enough time to start over more than once if you want to!"

"Yeah, you're right," Rouge sighed, finishing her tea.

"And think about it this way," Helen added, pointing at her head. "Everything you learned at your old job is going to stay with you, right? They can't take away what you learned."

"Absolutely not!" Rouge smirked.

"Well, this was a very pleasant diversion," Helen yawned. "I'm afraid I should get home now. I imagine I won't see you tomorrow, so here's my business card."

Helen slid a small card across the table, with his name, phone number, and his company's information. "I think my company has an office in Tartess. Feel free to call me if there's anything I could help you with."

"Oh, that's too kind of you," Rouge said as she took the card.

"Nonsense," Helen laughed. "My husband is dead and my kids are all grown up; what else am I going to do with my time? Though for now, I'm getting tired."

"Of course," Rouge nodded. "It was nice meeting you."

"Likewise," Helen said. "Well, even if we don't see each other again, I wish you the best."

"You too," Rouge finished her croissant and picked up her backpack. "And…thanks. You've made me feel alot better already."

Helen waved, and turned away to walk towards the city's residential area. Rouge called a cab, and took it immediately to the airport. She used the last of her cash to buy a one-way ticket to Tartess Island.

The flight would be about three hours long. The plane was rather small, and Rouge was able to carefully examine all of the passengers, in case GUN had decided to follow her.

Fortunately, that didn't seem to be the case. Of course, they could just be waiting for her on Tartess Island, but the island nation wasn't actually a member of the GUN Treaty Organization, and therefore held no power on the island.

Come to think of it, if they were going to get her on Tartess, she might as well go all out. She might as well start planning now.

So Rouge opened her laptop and tried to reach a few of her old contacts. Within the first half of the flight, she had arranged the sale of the classified paperwork to the Tartessian government for a few million Tartessian escudos, and the extra laptop to the Union of Islander Nations for a few million more. So far, so good. After a few minutes of reflection, she decided to sell three of the six sapphires to a jeweler of questionable repute, and keep the other three. The three she sold were only worth about ten thousand escudos, but it was worthwhile to keep a good relationship with her contacts in the jewelry business.

"Welcome to Fisheye City, the capital of Tartess Island," she heard over the airplane's speakers once they touched down. "We hope you enjoy your stay."

Rouge secured her backpack again, and walked slowly through the airport. There was a new terminal, but otherwise it hadn't really changed. The air was a bit warmer than Empire City, and considerably more humid. Everything was just like it was two years ago, when she had first left.

Rouge had hated that about her home. Nothing ever seemed to change. She had first taken a job with GUN because she wanted to see the world. But now the stasis was kind of comforting.

"Pardon me, miss," A human man waved to her from across the baggage claim. He wore the seal of the Tartessian Armed Forces, but something was off…Tartessian soldiers were never that neat and tidy. This man's uniform was practically free of dirt and wrinkles. No self-respecting Tartessian would wear a uniform if it didn't have at least a few stains or burn marks on it. It was a sign of their hard work.

He was a GUN agent in disguise, then. Well, she could have some fun in the meantime. The real Tartessian government would find her soon enough.

She walked over to the human, and followed him into the back of an ordinary white car. There was a driver already inside. They drove for a few minutes until they were on an empty stretch of highway. Neither the soldier nor the driver attempted to talk with her.

Mistake number two, buckos, Rouge thought. Tartessians love small talk.

So Rouge was ready as soon as the human pulled out his gun on her. The bat grabbed it immediately, tugged on his ear just enough to get him to drop the gun, and knocked him out with a quick elbow to the chin.

"Did you really think I was that stupid?" Rouge picked up the gun and pointed it at the driver. "This is insulting."

"Please don't kill me!" the driver screamed, pulling over to the side of the road. "I'm not with GUN, I swear! They forced me to do this. I don't even know who you are!"

"If that's true, then I want you to drive me to the Prime Minister's house right now," Rouge said, climbing into the front seat without ever pointing the gun away from the driver. "And don't get any funny ideas. I still have some powerful contacts."

"Okay, okay, geez!" The driver started the car again, and pulled back onto the road. "Can you at least put the gun down?"

"I'll move it a little farther away," Rouge put the gun in her lap, though she kept it pointed towards the driver. She did engage the safety, at least. She wasn't that reckless. "That's the best I can do."

"Fine," the driver shook his head. "This is the worst day ever. I can't believe I let that guy talk me into this."

Half an hour later, the car pulled up at the Prime Minister's house, in the center of the city. Tartessian officers–with properly dirty uniforms–were already there to take the still-unconscious GUN officer into custody, and to interrogate the driver.

"Hello, Rouge!" The Prime Minister, a tall, elegant lynx, waved to the bat, ushering her inside the house. "Long time no see."

"Indeed," Rouge bowed lightly. "How are things?"

"A few disputes with the United Federation about tariffs and fishing grounds, but nothing major," the President shrugged. "A good excuse to update security, at least. I hear you've gotten into a lot of trouble yourself."

"That's one way to put it," Rouge shook her head. She put the backpack down on a hardwood table, and took out the laptop and paperwork.

"These are the classified documents I promised," Rouge explained. "And I trust you to hand off the laptop to the Union of Islander Nations. Sorry about the two rabble-rousers I had to drag into this."

"No problem," the Prime Minister nodded, and handed her a debit card. "You've actually done us a favor. Having a GUN soldier trespass on our territory will give us good leverage at the Court."

"I see," Rouge sighed. As much as she enjoyed playing with politics from the outside, as it were, there remained a lot of technicalities that she had little interest in. "Well, I won't take any more of your time."

"Are you sure?" The Prime Minister pursed her lips. "Tartess could always use a good agent such as yourself."

"No," Rouge replied, perhaps more firmly than she meant to. "I think I'm going to take a break from politics for a little while."

"Well, suit yourself. I'm not going anywhere though," the Prime Minister nodded. "See you around, then."

"See you," Rouge waved, and headed out of the Prime Minister's house. She was escorted by a guard to the edge of the property, then allowed to wander on her own. She was sure that word of the incident would've already reached GUN headquarters by then, and they might be a little more wary of going after her.

She wandered around the Fisheye City aimlessly for a while, just taking in the sights, sounds, and smells that were all so familiar once again. Tartess Island was one of the few places on Gaia with roughly equal populations of humans and Islanders, and Rouge had always appreciated the open, flexible designs which had resulted from that. Roads were wide, and doors and windows were generally large enough to accommodate any body plan. Everybody had plants on their balconies, and the sidewalks were lined with fruit trees.

Soon enough she passed by the jeweler's shop.

"Hey!" the jeweler, a dark-furred boar named Lightning, called out. "So first I heard you were fighting that Robotnik fellow, then I heard you two teamed up, then I heard you stopped him from blowing up the world but you blew up the Moon instead, and now you got fired from GUN? What the Hell happened!?"

"That's just about right, Lightning," Rouge shrugged. "Look, I'm tired. It's a pleasure doing business, but I have a lot of things to think about."

"Here's the sapphires," Rouge held out a felt bag. "You have the money, right?"

"Yeah, sure, here," Lightning pulled out a suitcase, and opened it to display the banknotes. "You're lucky I had this much cash lying around."

"You're lucky I didn't forget about you," Rouge teased.

"You know, I don't know why you don't just freelance," Lightning folded his arms. "You've got the connections, and you definitely have the skills now. You could make a name for yourself, is all I'm saying."

"I'll think about it," Rouge said, already heading back out. "See you around."

"See you," Lightning waved casually.

Rouge took a minute to observe the street as she left the jewelry shop. The Sun was starting to set, and the evening rush of people going home after work was starting to thin out. Street lights flicked on, while restaurants and nightclubs prepared their outside tables for the rush at dinnertime.

Rouge took out the debit card that the Prime Minister had handed her, and twirled it around in her fingers.

Here I am, suddenly a millionaire, and I don't even have a place to sleep.

Rouge took a tram to the orphanage where she had grown up. It was a small brick building, with a playground in the back. A few children were still playing on the swings, evidently resistant to the director's calls for them to come inside and have dinner before it got cold.

But there was no point in retreading the past. Rouge continued along the street as the crowds thinned, and the first few stars appeared in the darkening sky.

Finally she arrived at a small hotel, and decided to sleep there. It was much nicer than many of the other places she had had to sleep in the past, in any case.

Rouge checked in quickly, exhaustion suddenly overtaking her when the receptionist gave her a room key. She hadn't quite heard the price, so she carelessly pulled a few wads of cash out of the suitcase that Lightning had given her, slid them across her counter, and walked to her room.

Still, she couldn't help but smile at the receptionist's cries of joy a few minutes later, which she could hear even from inside her room.

Rouge put down her backpack and pulled out the last two items that it contained. The first was one of Shadow's inhibitor rings that Sonic had handed to her. The second was a photograph of Shadow on the Ark, smiling, with Maria and Gerald at his sides. As far as she knew, it might be the only image of Shadow that still existed. The only record of the hedgehog who had saved the world.

"I'm doing this for you, Shadow," she said, putting the ring and photo on the nightstand. "Even if you're not here to share it with me. Even if nobody else remembers you."

Rouge went around the room one more time, making sure the door was locked, and checking for any gaps in security. She couldn't ever let her guard down.

Finally the exhaustion set in. Rouge lay down and fell asleep without even taking her clothes off.

Rouge woke up the next morning at just about sunrise. Having little other choice, she showered and put on her old clothes again. She promised herself to go on a shopping spree that afternoon, and get a few new outfits.

After that, she went to the hotel's lobby to make herself a cup of coffee. She sat down in one of the lobby's lounge chairs, and pulled out a newspaper from the stack in the corner. She breezed through the pages until she noticed an interesting job advertisement in the corner.

"Wanted: Museum Acquisitions Specialist.

Tartess National Museum is seeking someone with an eye for beauty, someone dedicated to finding unique and unusual treasures and works of art. In particular, the Museum is interested in re-acquiring works of Tartessian origin which have found themselves in foreign hands. If you have a passion for art, and you're not afraid of using unconventional methods, apply by mail or in person!"

Treasures. Re-acquiring. Unconventional methods. Interesting. Rouge chuckled. She could definitely visit the museum and apply after her shopping spree.

But first, one other thing. Rouge pulled out her phone and called Helen, hoping that she wasn't calling at a bad time.

"Hi Rouge!" the woman on the other side answered. "It's good to hear from you so soon. I was just talking with our office in Tartess. They said they need a construction cost analyst. I know that's not exactly accounting, but I think you could figure it out."

"Hi Helen, thanks," Rouge sighed. "But I think I've found another job that looks more appealing. I appreciate your help, though."

"Oh, well of course," Helen responded. "Just stay in touch, okay? Good friends are hard to come by."

"I will," Rouge said. "Have a good day."

"You too. Good luck." Helen replied, and hung up.

Rouge sighed, and put her phone away. She grabbed the newspaper, and headed out of the hotel.

Now, should I get a red dress for the interview, or a black one…?